Prayer protest drowned out at Texas field where debate began
By The Associated Press
09.05.00
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| A handful of pro-prayer advocates show their support for
prayer before football games outside the Santa Fe, Texas, stadium before the
high school's first home football game of the season on Sept. 1. It was the
first home game for Santa Fe since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that
student-led prayer over the school's loud speakers is not allowed. |
A statewide prayer protest of a U.S. Supreme Court ban on
school-sanctioned pre-game prayer fell flat on the same Texas high school
football field that launched the debate.
After the national anthem ended at Santa Fe High School's home
opener on Sept. 1, about 200 of the crowd of 4,500 recited the Lord's
Prayer. Protest organizers had boldly predicted that 10,000 Christians would
converge at the game.
Those who did pray were drowned out by the loudspeakers — which
the high court said in
Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe
could not be used to broadcast prayer because such prayers would
appear to have the school's support — when the announcer introduced
the visiting team.
"It was obvious that the announcer jumped right in after the
anthem, and then it was too late to do anything," said Becky Frye, mother
of a Santa Fe player. "If people could have appointed a leader for every
section, we could have overcome the speaker."
The Texas-based group No Pray No Play, from the town of Temple, led
the movement to encourage Christians to pray as soon as the national anthem was
finished on Sept. 1 at games across the state.
About six people drove 175 miles from Temple to Santa Fe for the
prayer session and a few others wore shirts created by No Pray No Play.
"We weren't trying to get everybody on the same
line," said No Pray No Play spokesman David Newsome. "We
didn't come here and say we were going to orchestrate this thing
one-two-three like they're doing out there on the field with the
band."
In June, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that amplified, student-led
prayer over a school's public-address system gave the appearance of
government endorsement of prayer and therefore crossed the line in the
separation of church and state.
The Santa Fe Independent School District was the defendant in the
case. After the ruling, it ended its tradition of pre-game prayer.
Not all Santa Fe residents agreed with the high court's
decision. "The loudspeakers are paid for with our tax dollars, so we
should be able to use them as we wish," Jackie Nelson said from the
stands on Sept. 1. "If other groups want to pray that way, let them put
their Buddhas or their wooden statues up and there and pray to their dead
gods."
Last week's prayer advocates had an unusual ally in their
argument that the First Amendment gives them the right to free speech,
including prayer: the American Civil Liberties Union, which helped successfully
argue against the district.
"That is exactly the kind of freedom we're fighting for.
The only place we have a concern is if the groups are going to try to get an
official place in the program, or use the public address systems," said
Martin Mayne, president of the Houston chapter of the American Civil Liberties
Union.
Today, Democratic vice presidential candidate Joseph Lieberman also
voiced support for parents who launch independent, public prayers from the
stands before high school football games — saying "God bless
them" — but backed the Supreme Court's ban on school prayer
as "an official authority, a government, saying you must pray in this
particular way."
Meanwhile, students at schools across the South found other ways to
make pre-game expressions of faith at football games:
About 4,500 football fans in Hattiesburg, Miss., recently held
a demonstration in which they prayed before a game.
In Asheville, N.C., 25,000 people gathered at a football
stadium for a rally sponsored by a group urging the recitation of the
Lord's Prayer at football games.
In Skiatook, Okla., about 50 people bowed their heads in a
pre-game invocation Sept. 1 organized by a group of adults. "We have a
50-year tradition here that will be done away with so easily because a few
people don't think it's constitutional for children to pray at
school," said Kevin Jordan, one of the organizers. "We just want to
have the freedom to pray as we want, without imposing our beliefs on
others."
Etowah High School in Attalla, Ala., opened its season with a
student-led prayer over the school's loudspeaker. "We don't
do anything in defiance," said head football coach Raymond Farmer.
"We do it just because we think that's what we should do. Etowah
players joined opposing players on the field after the game to recite the
Lord's Prayer, then had their own post game team prayer. Members of both
teams also prayed on the field after Etowah player Orlando Williams suffered a
broken leg. "We want to keep doing it the way we do it," said
Etowah Principal David Bowman. "We're doing it because we think
it's the right thing to do and we're helping kids."
Administrators at Mortimer Jordan, another Alabama high
school, opted for a moment of silence with students leading the crowd in
reciting the Lord's Prayer. "The P.A. announcer asked everybody to
stand for a moment of silence, and remain standing for the national
anthem," said Jimmie Trotter, a recently retired principal. "I
would say 50 percent of them began saying the Lord's Prayer."
At Moody High School, also in Alabama, students passed out
copies of the Lord's Prayer before the Aug. 31 game. But when the P.A.
announcer asked for the crowd to stand for a moment of silence and the national
anthem, the anthem started before the prayer could be recited.
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